Clothes dryer or washer-dryer

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure discloses a clothes dryer or washer-dryer including a cabinet; a drum body rotatably disposed in the cabinet, defining a containing chamber therein, and having an air inlet and an air outlet both communicating with the containing chamber; a heat pump system disposed to the cabinet to transport hot air into the containing chamber; and a fan assembly having a fan air channel that is in communication with the air inlet, located between the heat pump system and the air inlet in an airflow direction, and provided with a heating member therein to further heat air transported into the fan air channel, thus further heating the hot air in the fan air channel, raising a temperature of the hot air entering the containing chamber, shortening a period for drying clothes, bringing great convenience to user&#39;s life, and shortening a work time of the components like a compressor.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and benefits of Chinese PatentApplication Serial No. 201610377458.8 and Chinese Patent ApplicationSerial No. 201620518027.4, filed with the State Intellectual PropertyOffice of P. R. China on May 21, 2016, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a field of clothes drying technology,and more particularly to a clothes dryer or a washer-dryer.

BACKGROUND

In the related art, when a washer-dryer is used for drying clothes, aperiod for drying clothes is prolonged because of low-temperature dryingof a compressor, which brings great inconvenience to a user's life.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure seeks to solve at least one of the problemsexisting in the related art to at least some extent. Therefore, thepresent disclosure provides a clothes dryer or washer-dryer, which issimple in structure, reliable in component connection, convenient tomount and dismount, and low in cost, and has a long service life, ashort drying period and good user experience.

The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure including: a cabinet; a drum body rotatably disposedin the cabinet, defining a containing chamber therein, and having an airinlet and an air outlet both communicating with the containing chamber;a heat pump system disposed to the cabinet to transport hot air into thecontaining chamber; and a fan assembly having a fan air channel that isin communication with the air inlet, located between the heat pumpsystem and the air inlet in an airflow direction, and provided with aheating member therein to further heat air transported into the fan airchannel.

In the clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to the embodiments of thepresent disclosure, hot air entering the fan air channel can be furtherheated through disposing the heating member in the fan air channel ofthe fan assembly, thus raising a temperature of the hot air entering thecontaining chamber, shortening a period for drying clothes, bringinggreat convenience to user's life, shortening a work time of thecomponents like a compressor, and prolonging a service life of theclothes dryer or washer-dryer. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer issimple in structure, reliable in component connection, convenient tomount and dismount and low in cost, has long service life, short periodfor drying the clothes and good user experience, and can bring greatconvenience to the user's life.

In addition the clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to embodimentsof the present disclosure further has the follower additional features:

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heat pumpsystem has a heat pump air channel, the fan assembly has an inletcommunicating with the heat pump air channel to transport hot airgenerated by the heat pump system into the fan air channel.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the fan assemblyincludes: a fan base; a fan spiral case connected with the fan base todefine the fan air channel, in which at least one of an internal wall ofthe fan spiral case and an internal wall of the fan base is providedwith the heating member; a fan rotatably disposed in the fan airchannel; and a motor connected with the fan to drive the fan to rotate.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heating memberis disposed close to an outlet of the fan assembly.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heating memberis configured as a heating pipe.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heating pipehas a first end respectively connected with the internal wall of the fanspiral case and the internal wall of the fan base separately andstretching out of the fan assembly to be connected with a power supply,and a second end connected with the internal wall of the fan base.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the second end ofthe heating pipe is provided with a fixing sheet, and the fixing sheetis connected with the fan base through a screw.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heating pipeis configured as a multi-bend heating pipe.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heating pipeis substantially S-shaped.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heat pumpsystem includes: a compressor; an evaporator connected with thecompressor; and a condenser disposed in the heat pump air channel andabove the fan assembly, and having two ends connected with thecompressor and the evaporator respectively.

Additional aspects and advantages of embodiments of present disclosurewill be given in part in the following descriptions, become apparent inpart from the following descriptions, or be learned from the practice ofthe embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a clothes dryer or washer-dryer accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an assembly view of a heat pump system and a fan assembly ofthe clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 is an assembly view of the fan assembly and a heating member ofthe clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to the embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 4 is an internal schematic view of the fan assembly shown in FIG.3.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   100: clothes dryer or washer-dryer;-   10: heat pump system;-   12: evaporator;-   13: condenser;-   20: fan assembly; 20 a: inlet; 20 b: outlet; 20 c: fan air channel;-   21: fan base;-   22: fan spiral case;-   23: fan;-   24: motor;-   30: heating pipe; 31: first end; 32: second end; 33: fixing sheet;-   40: cabinet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail andexamples of the embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings. Theembodiments described herein with reference to drawings are explanatory,which are used to illustrate the present invention, but shall not beconstrued to limit the present invention.

In the following, a clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 according toembodiments of the present invention will be described with reference toFIGS. 1 to 4.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the clothes dryer or washer-dryeraccording to the embodiments of the present invention includes a cabinet40, a drum body (not shown), a heat pump system 10 and a fan assembly20. Specifically, the drum body is rotatably disposed in the cabinet 40,defines a containing chamber therein, and has an air inlet and an airoutlet both communicating with the containing chamber. The heat pumpsystem 10 is disposed to the cabinet 40 to transport hot air into thecontaining chamber. The fan assembly 20 has a fan air channel 20 ccommunicating with the air inlet, in which the fan air channel 20 c islocated between the heat pump system 10 and the air inlet in an airflowdirection, and provided with a heating member therein to further heatair transported into the fan air channel 20 c.

In other words, the clothes dryer or washer-dryer is mainly composed ofthe cabinet 40, the drum body, the heat pump system 10 and the fanassembly 20. The cabinet 40 extends along a vertical direction (anup-down direction shown in FIG. 1), and defines a mounting chamber usedfor mounting the drum body. The drum body is rotatably disposed in themounting chamber to drive clothes in the drum body to rotate, thustumbling the clothes. The drum body defines the containing chamber usedfor washing and drying the clothes, and is provided with the air inletand the air outlet.

The heat pump system 10 and the fan assembly 20 can disposed above thecabinet 40 separately and communicate with each other. The fan assemblyis provided with the fan air channel 20 c communicating with the heatpump system 10 and the containing chamber, and the fan air channel 20 cof the fan assembly 20 is located between the heat pump system 10 andthe air inlet of the containing chamber in the airflow direction. Whenthe clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 starts to operate a dryingprocedure, the heat pump system 10 generates a great amount of hot airwhich can be driven by the fan assembly 20 to be transported into thefan air channel 20 c, and the fan air channel 20 c is provided with theheating member therein to further heat the hot air entering the fan airchannel 20 c for an auxiliary heating effect, thus raising a temperatureof the hot air entering the containing chamber, shortening a period fordrying the clothes, shortening a temperature raising time of acompressor, and prolonging a service life of the compressor.

Accordingly, in the clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to theembodiments of the present disclosure, the hot air entering the fan airchannel 20 c can be further heated through disposing the heating memberin the fan air channel 20 c of the fan assembly 20, thus raising thetemperature of the hot air entering the containing chamber, shorteningthe period for drying the clothes, bringing great convenience to user'slife, shortening a work time of the compressor, and prolonging a servicelife of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100. The clothes dryer orwasher-dryer 100 is simple in structure, reliable in componentconnection, convenient to mount and dismount and low in cost, has a longservice life, a short period for drying the clothes and good userexperience, and can bring great convenience to the user's life.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heat pumpsystem 20 has a heat pump air channel, the fan assembly 20 has an inlet20 a communicating with the heat pump air channel to transport the hotair generated by the heat pump system 10 into the fan air channel 20 c.When the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 starts to operate the dryingprocedure, a controller of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100controls the heat pump system 10 and the fan assembly 10 to startworking, the hot air generated in the heat pump air channel of the heatpump system 10 is transported into the fan air channel 20 c of the fanassembly 20 under the action of the fan assembly 20, and then theheating member in the fan air channel 20 c further heats the hot air inthe fan air channel 20 c, thus raising the temperature of the hot airentering the containing chamber, and facilitating shortening the periodfor drying the clothes.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, in the embodiment, the fanassembly 20 includes a fan base 21, a fan spiral case 22, a fan 23 and amotor 24. Specifically, the fan spiral case 22 is connected with the fanbase 21 to define the fan air channel 20 c, and at least one of aninternal wall of the fan spiral case 22 and an internal wall of the fanbase is provided with the heating member. The fan 23 is rotatablydisposed in the fan air channel 20 c, and the motor 24 is connected withthe fan 23 to drive the fan 23 to rotate.

In other words, the fan assembly 20 is mainly composed of the fan base21, the fan spiral case 22, the fan 23 and the motor 24. The fanassembly 20 is provided with the inlet 20 a and an outlet 20 b whichcommunicate with the fan air channel 20 c of the fan assembly 20. Thefan spiral case 22 is connected with the fan base 21 to define the fanair channel 20 c. The fan 23 is rotatably disposed in the fan airchannel 20 c, and the motor 24 is disposed at the outside of the fanbase 21 and connected with the fan 23 to drive the fan 23 to rotate inthe fan air channel 20 c.

When the controller of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 starts tooperate the drying procedure, the controller controls the motor 24 andthe heat pump system 10 to start working, such that the motor 24 drivesthe fan 23 to rotate in the fan air channel 20 c to make the hot airgenerated by the heat pump system 10 flow into the fan air channel 20 c,the heating member in the fan air channel 20 c further heats the hot airto further raise the temperature of the hot air, the hot air enters thedrum body through the outlet 20 b of the fan assembly 20 to dry theclothes, then the hot air entering the containing chamber exchanges heatwith the wet clothes, and finally the hot air is discharged out of thecontaining chamber.

Optionally, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theheating member is disposed close to the outlet 20 b of the fan assembly20. Specifically, the fan 23 makes the hot air in the heat pump system10 flow into the fan air channel 20 c, then a flowing direction of thehot air is changed under the action of the fan 23, and finally the hotair is discharged from the outlet 20 b of the fan assembly 20 and entersthe containing chamber to dry the clothes. Because the heating member isclose to the outlet 20 b of the fan assembly 20, the heating member canheat the hot air before the hot air enters the containing chamber, toshorten a drying period of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100, andcan compensate heat loss of the hot air flowing in the fan air channel20 c to ensure a drying effect of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the heating member isconfigured as a heating pipe 30. For example, the heating member may beconfigured as a resistance-type heating pipe, an arc heating pipe andthe like. The heating pipe 30 has a first end connected with theinternal wall of the fan spiral case 22 and the internal wall of the fanbase 21 separately and stretching out of the fan assembly 20 to beconnected with a power supply, and a second end 32 connected with theinternal wall of the fan base 21.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the fan spiral case 22 is disposed overthe fan base 21 and snapped into the fan base 21 to define the fan airchannel 20 c. At least a portion of the heating pipe 30 is detachablydisposed in the fan air channel 20 c. The first end 31 of the heatingpipe 30 is disposed in front of the fan base 21 and the fan spiral case22 and stretches out of the fan assembly 20 to be connected with thepower supply, and the second end 32 of the heating pipe 30 is located inthe fan air channel 20 c and fixedly connected with the internal wall ofthe fan base 21, such that the heating pump 30 can be fixedly mounted.

When the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 starts to operate the dryingprocedure, the controller controls the heat pump system 10, the heatingpipe 30, the fan assembly 20 and the motor 24 to start working, suchthat the fan assembly 20 makes the hot air generated by the heat pumpsystem 10 flow into the fan air channel 20 c, the heating pipe 30 in thefan air channel 20 c can further heat the hot air in the fan air channel20 c to accomplish temperature compensation and raise the temperature ofthe hot air entering the containing chamber, so as to shorten the dryingperiod, thus providing great convenience for the user's life.

Optionally, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, thesecond end 32 of the heating pipe 30 is provided with a fixing sheet 33,and the fixing sheet 33 is connected with the fan base 21 through ascrew. Accordingly, the heating pipe 30 can be fixedly mounted toguarantee reliability of connecting the heating pipe 30 with the fanbase 21, thus ensuring normal work of the heating pipe 30 and the dryingeffect of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100.

In some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the heating pipemay be configured as a multi-bend heating pipe 30, so as to increase alength of the heating pipe in a limited space, thus further raising aheating efficiency of the heating pipe 30 and shortening the dryingperiod.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, in the embodiment, the heating pipe 30is substantially S-shaped. The fixing sheet 33 can be fixed to theinternal wall of the fan base 21 through the screw, and two bentsegments of the S-shaped heating pipe 30 are snapped into two ends ofthe fixing sheet 33 respectively, thus ensuring a fixed connectionbetween the heating pipe 30 and the fan base 21, raising reliability ofconnection of components, and ensuring normal work of the heating pipe30 in the fan air channel 20 c.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heat pumpsystem 10 includes a compressor (not shown), an evaporator 12 and acondenser 13. Specifically, the evaporator 12 is connected with thecompressor, the condenser 13 is disposed in the heat pump air channeland above the fan assembly 20, and the condenser 13 has two endsconnected with the compressor and the evaporator 12 respectively.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the heat pump air channelis located above the fan assembly 20. When the clothes dryer orwasher-dryer 100 starts to operate the drying procedure, the controllercontrols the heating member, the motor 24 of the fan assembly 20, thecompressor, the evaporator 12 and the condenser 13 of the heat pumpsystem 10 to start working, such that air enters the heat pump system 10under the action of the fan assembly 20, the condenser 13 of the heatpump system raises a temperature of the air entering the heat pump airchannel, then the fan assembly 20 makes hot air in the heat pump airchannel flow into the fan air channel 20 c, and the heating member inthe fan air channel 20 c further heats the hot air in the fan airchannel 20 c, to greatly shorten the drying period, to shorten atemperature raising time of the compressor, and to prolong service livesof components like the compressor, thus providing great convenience tothe user's life and good user experience.

Other configurations and operation of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure are known forthose skilled in the art, which will not be described in detail herein.

In the specification, it is to be understood that terms such as“central,” “longitudinal,” “transverse,” “length,” “width,” “thickness,”“upper,” “lower,” “front,” “rear,” “left,” “right,” “vertical,”“horizontal,” “top,” “bottom,” “inner,” “outer,” “clockwise,”“counterclockwise,” “axial,” “radial,” and “circumferential” should beconstrued to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown inthe drawings under discussion. These relative terms are for convenienceof description and do not require that the present disclosure beconstructed or operated in a particular orientation.

In addition, terms such as “first” and “second” are used herein forpurposes of description and are not intended to indicate or implyrelative importance or significance or to imply the number of indicatedtechnical features. Thus, the feature defined with “first” and “second”may include one or more of this feature. In the description of thepresent disclosure, “a plurality of” means at least two, e.g. two orthree and etc., unless specified otherwise.

In the present disclosure, unless specified or limited otherwise, theterms “mounted,” “connected,” “coupled,” “fixed” and the like are usedbroadly, and may be, for example, fixed connections, detachableconnections, or integral connections; may also be mechanical, orelectrical connections, or communicate with each other; may also bedirect connections or indirect connections via intervening structures;may also be inner communications or interaction of two elements, whichcan be understood by those skilled in the art according to specificsituations.

In the present disclosure, unless specified or limited otherwise, astructure in which a first feature is “on” or “below” a second featuremay include an embodiment in which the first feature is in directcontact with the second feature, and may also include an embodiment inwhich the first feature and the second feature are not in direct contactwith each other, but are contacted via an additional feature formedtherebetween. Furthermore, a first feature “on,” “above,” or “on top of”a second feature may include an embodiment in which the first feature isright or obliquely “on,” “above,” or “on top of” the second feature, orjust means that the first feature is at a height higher than that of thesecond feature; while a first feature “below,” “under,” or “on bottomof” a second feature may include an embodiment in which the firstfeature is right or obliquely “below,” “under,” or “on bottom of” thesecond feature, or just means that the first feature is at a heightlower than that of the second feature.

Reference throughout this specification to “an embodiment,” “someembodiments,” “an example,” “a specific example,” or “some examples,”means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment or example is included in atleast one embodiment or example of the present disclosure. Thus, theappearances of the phrases in various places throughout thisspecification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment orexample of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the particular features,structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in anysuitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples. Those skilled inthe art can integrate and combine different embodiments or examples andthe features in different embodiments or examples in the specification,in the condition without mutual contradiction.

Although explanatory embodiments have been shown and described, it wouldbe appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above embodimentscannot be construed to limit the present disclosure, and changes,alternatives, and modifications can be made in the embodiments withoutdeparting from spirit, principles and scope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A clothes dryer or washer-dryer comprising: acabinet; a drum body rotatably disposed in the cabinet, defining acontaining chamber therein, and having an air inlet and an air outletboth communicating with the containing chamber; a heat pump systemdisposed to the cabinet to transport hot air into the containingchamber; and a fan assembly having a fan air channel that is incommunication with the air inlet, located between the heat pump systemand the air inlet in an airflow direction, and provided with a heatingmember therein to further heat air transported into the fan air channel.2. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 1, wherein theheat pump system has a heat pump air channel, the fan assembly has aninlet communicating with the heat pump air channel to transport hot airgenerated by the heat pump system into the fan air channel.
 3. Theclothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 1, wherein the fanassembly comprises: a fan base; a fan spiral case connected with the fanbase to define the fan air channel, in which at least one of an internalwall of the fan spiral case and an internal wall of the fan base isprovided with the heating member; a fan rotatably disposed in the fanair channel; and a motor connected with the fan to drive the fan torotate.
 4. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 1,wherein the heating member is disposed close to an outlet of the fanassembly.
 5. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 3,wherein the heating member is configured as a heating pipe.
 6. Theclothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 5, wherein the heatingpipe has a first end connected with the internal wall of the fan spiralcase and the internal wall of the fan base separately and stretching outof the fan assembly to be connected with a power supply, and a secondend connected with the internal wall of the fan base.
 7. The clothesdryer or washer-dryer according to claim 6, wherein the second end ofthe heating pipe is provided with a fixing sheet, and the fixing sheetis connected with the fan base through a screw.
 8. The clothes dryer orwasher-dryer according to claim 5, wherein the heating pipe isconfigured as a multi-bend heating pipe.
 9. The clothes dryer orwasher-dryer according to claim 8, wherein the heating pipe issubstantially S-shaped.
 10. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer accordingto claim 2, wherein the heat pump system comprises: a compressor; anevaporator connected with the compressor; and a condenser disposed inthe heat pump air channel and above the fan assembly, and having twoends connected with the compressor and the evaporator respectively. 11.The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 4, wherein theheating member is configured as a heating pipe.
 12. The clothes dryer orwasher-dryer according to claim 11, wherein the heating pipe has a firstend connected with the internal wall of the fan spiral case and theinternal wall of the fan base separately and stretching out of the fanassembly to be connected with a power supply, and a second end connectedwith the internal wall of the fan base.
 13. The clothes dryer orwasher-dryer according to claim 12, wherein the second end of theheating pipe is provided with a fixing sheet, and the fixing sheet isconnected with the fan base through a screw.
 14. The clothes dryer orwasher-dryer according to claim 11, wherein the heating pipe isconfigured as a multi-bend heating pipe.
 15. The clothes dryer orwasher-dryer according to claim 14, wherein the heating pipe issubstantially S-shaped.